A home energy audit can uncover ways to make your home more energy efficient and lower your utility bills.

Save money: Tax credit for audit costs up to $150. Making energy efficiency upgrades identified in the audit can save you 5-30% on your energy bill.

Save the planet: An audit identifies how you can improve your home to use less energy, and reduce or replace use of fossil-fuel burning appliances.

Sealing leaks and upgrading doors and windows that allow too much air to escape will reduce the energy needed to keep your home at a comfortable temperature.

Save money: 

• Tax credit for 30% of the cost of new exterior doors, up to $500 per year (up to $250 per door).
• Tax credit for 30% of the cost of new windows, up to $500 per year.
• Tax credit for 30% of the cost of insulation, subject to a cumulative, annual cap of $1,200.
• Lower your utility costs long-term by reducing the energy needed to heat and cool your home.

Save the planet: Lowering its energy consumption to maintain a comfortable temperature will reduce your home’s carbon footprint.

Replacing old or failing appliances with energy-efficient models reduces energy use and, when replacing gas-powered appliances, makes your indoor air healthier.

Save money: Rebates of up to $840 for Energy-Star Certified appliances will be available through state programs funded by the DOE. Most programs are expected to launch in 2024 or 2025 and you can visit Energy.gov’s tracker to keep tabs on your state’s status.

Save the planet (and your health):  Energy-Star Certified appliances use less electricity than older electric or gas appliances. A certified electric stove is about three times more energy efficient than a gas stove, and an induction stove is even more efficient. Replacing gas appliances such as stoves also improves indoor air quality. Studies show that gas stoves emit nitrogen dioxide and other air pollutants that pose respiratory health risks, especially for children and people with lung diseases like asthma. Gas stoves also leak heat-trapping methane gas into the environment.

Upgrading your heating and cooling with more energy efficient options often has the most impact of all home improvements on your utility bills and on the climate. Replacing a fossil-fuel-burning gas, propone, or fuel oil furnace with an electric heat pump reduces pollution and long-term energy costs. Heat pumps are three to five times more efficient than furnaces and, despite their name, heat pumps don’t just heat – they also cool. You can replace both your furnace and existing air conditioner with a single, more efficient, heat pump. Learn more about different types of heat pumps including ductless mini-split, air source, and geothermal (see more about additional benefits for geothermal below).

Save money: 

• Tax credit for up to $2,000 total across heat pump water heaters, heat pumps, and biomass stoves.
• $600 per unit for central air conditioner upgrades.
• $600 per unit for upgrading natural gas, propane, or oil water heaters, furnaces or boilers with approved models that are more energy efficient.
• Save up to $500 per year in energy costs depending on your home’s size, location and other factors.

Save the planet: Replacing fossil-fuel burning furnaces with heat pumps vastly reduces a household’s carbon emissions. If all single family homes in the U.S. adopted heat pumps, the total annual emissions reduction would be equivalent to taking at least 32 million cars off the road, according to an analysis by Rewiring.

Sign up for a community solar plan to save on your electricity bill. You may be able to take advantage of solar energy with no cost to you. In a community solar program, a solar farm feeds power to the local electric grid. Solar subscribers get power from their local utility as normal, but the utility credits them for the amount of solar electricity generated for their share. Learn more and look for a program in your area with Rewiring’s guide to community solar.

Talk to your landlord about home electrification. While renters have fewer opportunities to take advantage of energy efficiency incentives, they can encourage their landlords to do so. Rewiring’s guide to talking to your landlord about electrification includes an email template to tell your landlord how electrification could reduce their operating costs while helping the planet.

Look into assistance programs for low-income households. The Weatherization Assistance Program through the U.S. Department of Energy and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program by the Department of Health and Human Services both help qualifying households with energy costs and improvements.

If the conditions at your home are right, installing solar panels or a small wind electric system can give you significant energy savings in the long run and greatly reduce your carbon footprint.

Save money: 

• Tax credit for 30% of the cost of solar panels or small wind electric systems.
• Vastly reduce your utility bill. Wind systems can be especially effective and can lower electricity bills by 50-90%.
• Some areas offer net metering, where excess electricity produced by your home system is sent back to the grid, in exchange for credits on your electricity bill.
• Increase the value of your home. A study by the Berkeley National Laboratory found that home buyers are willing to pay more for homes with solar power.

Save the planet: Electric power generation is the second largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, right behind transportation, and residential energy use accounts for 20% of total emissions. Wind and solar power are the cleanest energy sources available, with wind power producing an emissions footprint of four grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kWh produced and solar power producing six grams, compared to 78 grams for gas and 109 grams for coal.

Geothermal heat pumps take advantage of the constant temperature underground to efficiently heat and cool homes with less electricity. A buried loop pulls heat from the ground to supply warmth, or pulls heat from the home into the ground to cool it.

Save money:

• Tax credit for 30% of the cost.
• Though the installation cost is higher than for air-source heat pumps, geothermal heat pumps use less electricity and the additional upfront cost is often returned in utility savings within 5-10 years.
• The life expectancy of geothermal systems is often double that of others, saving on maintenance and replacement costs. Inside components of geothermal units are expected to last 24 years and ground loops 50+ years on average.

Save the planet: Geothermal heat pumps produce 85-90% fewer emissions than fossil fuel appliances. Their lower electricity usage – for example, a study by RMI found that they use four times less electricity than air source pumps on the coldest days – also reduces reliance on the electricity grid.

Solar water heaters use various collection and circulation methods to heat water with the sun’s thermal energy.

Save money: 

• Tax credit for 30% of the cost.
• After heating and cooling, water heating is typically the second largest home energy expense, accounting for 20% of a home’s energy use on average. Efficient solar water heaters can significantly reduce energy bills.

Save the planet: A solar water heater can cut household emissions in half, saving 2 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere annually – the equivalent of not driving your car for four months each year.

Battery storage saves energy from solar or wind power for later use, reducing or eliminating the need to rely on backup utility power at night or in unfavorable weather conditions. Fuel cells generate electricity and heat by converting hydrogen and oxygen into water through an electrochemical process.

Save money: 

• Tax credit for 30% of the cost.
• Increase savings from home clean energy installations by reducing backup utility use.
• Fuel cells offer an efficient continuous power source, making them a good alternative where weather patterns don’t support solar or wind. The heat they produce can also be used for home and water heating, further replacing other electricity usage.

Save the planet: Using fuel cells or adding battery storage to a residential clean energy system reduces demand for utility-supplied electricity, and can eliminate the need for backup diesel generators during utility outages.